China's tech giant Tencent managed to steal some thunder out of Alibaba's annual Singles' Day sales on Friday by announcing a gift of $220 million worth shares for its nearly 31,500 employees. The special generosity to its employees was shown to commemorate the 18^th birth anniversary of the company.

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Tencent Holdings Ltd was formed on November 11, 1998, with an aim to redefine China's online world, which was still in the nascent stage. The company's WeChat is the most used messaging app in China.  

The tech giant will offer every employee and contractor 300 shares, which is currently valued at HK$200 ($26) a piece - $7,735 in total. The total comes to around $220 million.

Reuters reported that these shares would be allotted to employees during the span of three years and allocation will start from next week

The employees will benefit from the fact that Tencent is currently the most valued tech company in the world, overtaking its rival Alibaba in August. Its market capitalization at the Hong Kong stock exchange stands at approximately $24 billion.  

Meanwhile, there is a joke going around Tencent employees that while Jack Ma's (Alibaba's founder) employees are busy sweating over-time, Pony Ma's (Tencent's founder) employees are busy counting cash.     

The joke clearly poked fun at the fact that Alibaba's employees were sweating it out to make their annual Singles' Day sales a grand success, while Tencent staff was getting rich while sitting on the couch.

However, all the hard work of Alibaba's employees seems to have paid off, as the company raked in close to $20 billion in sales by the end of the day, crossing the $14.3 billion mark it clocked in last year's Singles Day sales.     

TagsTencent, China Tencent, china, Tencent Employees